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Over 3 700 outstanding students awarded scholarships by the Government (with photos)
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     The Secretary for Education, Mr Eddie Ng Hak-kim, today (April 11) presented certificates to 1 141 students who were awarded scholarships under the HKSAR Government Scholarship Fund and 2 599 students awarded scholarships and awards under the Self-financing Post-secondary Education Fund (SPEF) in the 2012/13 academic year.

     The total value of scholarships and awards distributed to these 3 740 students amounted to about $108 million.

     A spokesman for the Education Bureau said, "The Government has always strived to consolidate Hong Kong's regional status as an education hub and to offer quality and flexible study pathways with multiple entry and exit points for youngsters. To this end, we are promoting the complementary development of both publicly funded and self-financing post-secondary education institutions."

     The Scholarship Fund was established in 2008 to attract outstanding local students to advance their studies at home, and meritorious non-local students to pursue higher education opportunities in Hong Kong. Scholarships are offered to students studying full-time publicly funded undergraduate-level or above programmes and students studying full-time publicly funded sub-degree programmes at 10 participating institutions. The list of institutions is in Annex 1.

     The Self-financing Post-secondary Scholarship Scheme was established under the SPEF in 2011 to promote the quality and sustainable development of the self-financing post-secondary sector. Under the scheme, scholarships and awards are offered to students pursuing full-time locally accredited self-financing sub-degree or undergraduate programmes. The list of 35 participating institutions is in Annex 2.

     The spokesman said, "In the 2012/13 academic year, 792 local and 349 non-local students received a total of $52 million in scholarships from the Scholarship Fund. These include 720 publicly funded undergraduate-level or above students and 421 students studying in publicly funded sub-degree programmes.

     "Among the non-local recipients, 10 students were awarded targeted scholarships. This is the first year the Scholarship Fund has awarded up to 10 targeted scholarships to first-year non-local full-time students from Association of Southeast Asian Nations countries, India and Korea, who are enrolled in publicly funded degree programmes in Hong Kong.

     "The SPEF offered $56 million in scholarships and awards to 2 561 local and 38 non-local students this academic year. Of these recipients, 1 744 studied sub-degree programmes and the remaining 855 pursued undergraduate courses.

     "Categorised by type of scholarship and award, 1 247 students were awarded the Outstanding Performance Scholarship, 333 gained the Best Progress Award, 466 received the Talent Development Scholarship (TDS) and 553 were selected for the Reaching Out Award (ROA)."

     The TDS and the ROA, which started in the 2012/13 academic year, were established under the Scholarship Fund and the SPEF following the Government's injection of $1 billion into each of the two Funds in 2012. Applications for the TDS and the ROA under the Scholarship Fund are being processed.

     The TDS gives recognition to students who have demonstrated achievement or talent in non-academic areas, while the ROA supports meritorious students' participation in learning, internship or service programmes, as well as events and competitions that are conducted outside Hong Kong.

     Details of the scholarships and awards under the Scholarship Fund are available at www.edb.gov.hk/en/edu-system/postsecondary/local-higher-edu/publicly-funded-programmmes/scholarship.html. Those under the SPEF are available at www.ipass.gov.hk/edb/index.php/en/home/pfund/pfund_a.

Ends/Thursday, April 11, 2013
Issued at HKT 15:38

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